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D&D's Evolution: Rulings, Rules, and "System Matters"
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8396783" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I mostly agree with what [USER=16814]@Ovinomancer[/USER] has posted in reply to this.</p><p></p><p>A few additional thoughts:</p><p></p><p>* The most abstract ruleset I know is Cthulhu Dark, and I don't think that a human can be quicker than that. The idea that applying abstract rulesets to complex situations takes time rests on a premise that the abstract ruleset looks more like the 3E D&D grappling rules than (say) the rules for Cthulhu Dark or HeroQueset revised or Cortex+ Heroic.</p><p></p><p>* To follow on from the above, the complexity of rulesets seems like a distinct concern in any event - BW has very crunchy rules (comparable at least to RuneQuest in complexity) and Marvel Heroic RP is not crunch-free (though much simpler than BW), but neither is oriented towards the same sort of play experience as AD&D (either edition) or Pathfinder. There are reasons for BW rules being crunchy, and replacing them with referee adjudication in the free kriegsspiel style would not satisfy those reasons.</p><p></p><p>* "High-trust" is a red herring. In BW I need to trust that the GM will be able to come up with worthwhile scenes and worthwhile consequence narration. Otherwise the game will just drag or even suck. In Apocalype World I need to trust that the GM is able to come up with signs of pending badness that are compelling (in general) and engaging (for me in the play of my PC). The idea that non-free kriegsspielers don't trust their referees is something I see asserted quite often but regard as low-level slander.</p><p></p><p>* "Consistent rulings" is also a red herring, for a different reason: it builds in an assumption that the main thing that should matter to resolution is sensible estimations of the outcomes of the causal processes involved in the action being taken by the character. Now obviously this is important for wargaming in the nineteenth century Prussian Army, which is meant to be teaching officers how to be better military decision-makers. But why does it matter for RPGing? Why should it be the same difficulty for my PC to move a one-ton weight in the gym and for my PC to move the one-ton block off my loved one? Why should the likelihood of meeting sentries be the same when we're sneaking into the compound as when we're fleeing from it with our stolen goodies (in a heist story the likelihood should be greater at the start; in an action story it should be greater at the end)? Etc. Building <em>consistent rulings</em> in as a premise is already taking a view about what RPGing is (namely, a type of wargaming) which hasn't been true universally since the mid-70s and probably isn't true of a majority of contemporary RPG play.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8396783, member: 42582"] I mostly agree with what [USER=16814]@Ovinomancer[/USER] has posted in reply to this. A few additional thoughts: * The most abstract ruleset I know is Cthulhu Dark, and I don't think that a human can be quicker than that. The idea that applying abstract rulesets to complex situations takes time rests on a premise that the abstract ruleset looks more like the 3E D&D grappling rules than (say) the rules for Cthulhu Dark or HeroQueset revised or Cortex+ Heroic. * To follow on from the above, the complexity of rulesets seems like a distinct concern in any event - BW has very crunchy rules (comparable at least to RuneQuest in complexity) and Marvel Heroic RP is not crunch-free (though much simpler than BW), but neither is oriented towards the same sort of play experience as AD&D (either edition) or Pathfinder. There are reasons for BW rules being crunchy, and replacing them with referee adjudication in the free kriegsspiel style would not satisfy those reasons. * "High-trust" is a red herring. In BW I need to trust that the GM will be able to come up with worthwhile scenes and worthwhile consequence narration. Otherwise the game will just drag or even suck. In Apocalype World I need to trust that the GM is able to come up with signs of pending badness that are compelling (in general) and engaging (for me in the play of my PC). The idea that non-free kriegsspielers don't trust their referees is something I see asserted quite often but regard as low-level slander. * "Consistent rulings" is also a red herring, for a different reason: it builds in an assumption that the main thing that should matter to resolution is sensible estimations of the outcomes of the causal processes involved in the action being taken by the character. Now obviously this is important for wargaming in the nineteenth century Prussian Army, which is meant to be teaching officers how to be better military decision-makers. But why does it matter for RPGing? Why should it be the same difficulty for my PC to move a one-ton weight in the gym and for my PC to move the one-ton block off my loved one? Why should the likelihood of meeting sentries be the same when we're sneaking into the compound as when we're fleeing from it with our stolen goodies (in a heist story the likelihood should be greater at the start; in an action story it should be greater at the end)? Etc. Building [I]consistent rulings[/I] in as a premise is already taking a view about what RPGing is (namely, a type of wargaming) which hasn't been true universally since the mid-70s and probably isn't true of a majority of contemporary RPG play. [/QUOTE]
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